AVG Complaints – a lesson in complacency

We all know that when companies get too big they can become complacent, but do the companies themselves know how much of a negative impact they create for their future business?

When it comes to choosing anti-virus software there are some well known brands, of which AVG is one. Being well known, you’d expect it to be quite stable and if problems occur, there’s backup support. And there is – sort of.

Recently I had to renew the AVG licences on two machines. I had the fully paid versions and they became updated, which is where the problems started. From relative normality beforehand came problems with AVG thinking certain files (emailed to me or accessed over the network) had viruses in them. They didn’t. Then it became clear that if a suspected dodgy file was emailed to me, AVG would completely strip it out (it’s a bit embarrassing asking your staff why a certain file hasn’t been emailed when it had been but AVG chose to strip it out).

Within the AVG system there’s the ability to submit a suspect file (that’s been put in the virus vault) to AVG along with a note about the problem. So I did this and waited for a response. And waited and waited. A couple of weeks later I did the same. And nothing came back – as if my requests for support disappeared into a black hole.

So guess what? Five ‘Custwin’ machines will soon have another anti-virus solution, that apparently won’t cause such problems. That solution is immensely cheaper as well. So AVG have missed out on a potential five sales of their software, not to mention ongoing renewals each year. Add to that anyone we speak to, when the subject of anti-virus packages comes up, where we’ll be anti-ambassadors for AVG. You start to see how the spread of negative publicity starts to happen. OK, we are tiny minnows to AVG and perhaps us and our sphere of influence has little impact on their bottom line. But what about other people who have the same problems? Do they become anti-ambassadors too? And what will happen when AVG realise they don’t get renewals next year? Will they attempt to find out what the dissatisfaction was? Probably not – it’s easier to just pump extra money into marketing to new people.

Is it because the AVG system is rubbish? Not at all – it’s probably just being over-zealous. Is it because the AVG response system fell over twice and they don’t get a third chance? Absolutely!